Chesapeake Bay Decoys: The Men Whom Made and Used Them

Chesapeake Bay Decoys: The Men Whom Made and Used Them by Richardson, R.H. (Edited by). hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780870331909.

The Chesapeake Bay fathered more decoys than all other areas combined. In the latter part of the 19th century, millions of ducks wintered within the Bay and a great harvest was inevitable, and harvest them the local hunter did. Every method imaginable was employed to reap the inexhaustible supply of fowl. Large bore guns, fire lamps, blinds, sink boxes, bush whack rigs, and most of all the silent betrayers, "Decoys." These counterfeit ducks and geese did their job well. Together with the on-rushing civilization, the myriads of fowl depleted; the decoy had worked itself out of a job. After the 1918 protective legislation things looked bleak for the decoy and his maker. It only took a few years for the decoy to toll a different bird, the collector, who fell easy prey to the charms and beauty of this American hand crafted art.